"The most famous example of a poem composed in response to the historical circumstances of its time is “Yellow Bird” (Mao 131 “Huang niao”) in the “Airs of Qin”: Jiao-jiao cry the yellow birds, / settling on the jujube tree. / Who followed Lord Mu? / Ziju Yanxi! / Truly, this Yanxi, / the finest of a hundred men! / He draws close to the pit, / trembling, trembling in terror. / Heaven, the azure one, / slays our good man! / If one could ransom him, ah— / a hundred men for his life! Jiao-jiao cry the yellow birds, / settling on the mulberry tree. / Who followed Lord Mu? / Ziju Zhonghang! / Truly, this Zhonghang, / a match for a hundred men! / He draws close to the pit, / trembling, trembling in terror. / Heaven, the azure one, / slays our good man! / If one could ransom him, ah— / a hundred men for his life! Jiao-jiao cry the yellow birds, / settling on the caltrop bush. / Who followed Lord Mu? / Ziju Qianhu! / Truly, this Qianhu, / a guard against a hundred men! / He draws close to the pit, / trembling, trembling in terror. / Heaven, the azure one, / slays our good man. / If one could ransom him, ah— / a hundred men for his life!
For the year 621 BCE, the Zuo Tradition narrates that at the burial of Lord Mu of Qin, Yanxi, Zhonghang, and Qianhu followed him into the grave as human sacrifices, whereupon “the men of the state mourned them, and on their behalf recited ‘Yellow Bird’.”51 Here we have the single most plausible case where fu (“to present,” “to recite”) should be taken as “to make,”, which is, quite naturally, how the Mao preface interprets the situation. Note, however, that the “men of the state” (guoren) are not the common folk but members of the Qin court élite. This rare example, where the Zuo Tradition relates not only a poem’s historical context but also its act of composition, generates credibility for the general idea that early Chinese poetry could emerge in response to specific circumstances—even though no poem from the “Airs,” unlike the “Major Court Hymns,” contains a sustained historical narrative. The underlying dictum that “poetry expresses intent” makes poetry symptomatic and revealing, and endows it with an unquestionable truth claim. It also encourages the identification of authorial agency, even in semi-anonymous terms such as “the men of the state.” Yet the poetics attributed to the “Airs” frame authorship not as autonomous or creative. A poem is not “made” by a controlling poet but arises from history, and its truth claim rests precisely in the absence of authorial control and artful manipulation. Thus, early Chinese aesthetic appreciation is primarily concerned with how a poem matches the world it depicts. As individual poems could, thus, be decoded— or constituted—as symptom and omen, so could the entire body of the Poetry. Consider the performance of dance, music, and song that the court of Lu gave to Prince Ji Zha of Wu, who, in 544 BCE, requested to be allowed to “observe the music of Zhou.” The Zuo Tradition provides the following account of his judgment of the different “Airs”:--"
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Re: 131. 黃鳥 - Huang Niao
Date: 2021-02-22 05:37 am (UTC)historical circumstances of its time is “Yellow Bird” (Mao 131 “Huang
niao”) in the “Airs of Qin”:
Jiao-jiao cry the yellow birds, / settling on the jujube tree. / Who followed Lord Mu? / Ziju Yanxi! / Truly, this Yanxi, / the finest of a hundred men! / He draws close to the pit, / trembling, trembling in terror. /
Heaven, the azure one, / slays our good man! / If one could ransom
him, ah— / a hundred men for his life!
Jiao-jiao cry the yellow birds, / settling on the mulberry tree. / Who
followed Lord Mu? / Ziju Zhonghang! / Truly, this Zhonghang, / a
match for a hundred men! / He draws close to the pit, / trembling,
trembling in terror. / Heaven, the azure one, / slays our good man! / If
one could ransom him, ah— / a hundred men for his life!
Jiao-jiao cry the yellow birds, / settling on the caltrop bush. / Who followed Lord Mu? / Ziju Qianhu! / Truly, this Qianhu, / a guard against a
hundred men! / He draws close to the pit, / trembling, trembling in terror. / Heaven, the azure one, / slays our good man. / If one could ransom him, ah— / a hundred men for his life!
For the year 621 BCE, the Zuo Tradition narrates that at the burial of
Lord Mu of Qin, Yanxi, Zhonghang, and Qianhu followed him into the
grave as human sacrifices, whereupon “the men of the state mourned them, and on their behalf recited ‘Yellow Bird’.”51 Here we have the
single most plausible case where fu (“to present,” “to recite”) should be
taken as “to make,”, which is, quite naturally, how the Mao preface
interprets the situation. Note, however, that the “men of the state”
(guoren) are not the common folk but members of the Qin court élite.
This rare example, where the Zuo Tradition relates not only a poem’s historical context but also its act of composition, generates credibility for the general idea that early Chinese poetry could emerge in
response to specific circumstances—even though no poem from the
“Airs,” unlike the “Major Court Hymns,” contains a sustained historical narrative. The underlying dictum that “poetry expresses intent”
makes poetry symptomatic and revealing, and endows it with an unquestionable truth claim. It also encourages the identification of authorial agency, even in semi-anonymous terms such as “the men of the
state.” Yet the poetics attributed to the “Airs” frame authorship not as
autonomous or creative. A poem is not “made” by a controlling poet
but arises from history, and its truth claim rests precisely in the absence of authorial control and artful manipulation. Thus, early Chinese
aesthetic appreciation is primarily concerned with how a poem matches the world it depicts. As individual poems could, thus, be decoded—
or constituted—as symptom and omen, so could the entire body of the
Poetry. Consider the performance of dance, music, and song that the
court of Lu gave to Prince Ji Zha of Wu, who, in 544 BCE, requested
to be allowed to “observe the music of Zhou.” The Zuo Tradition provides the following account of his judgment of the different “Airs”:--"
https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mkern/files/the_formation_of_the_classic_of_poetry_0.pdf